UNESCO has announced that up to eleven new sites may be added to its World Heritage List on June 27. These sites, noted as being of exceptional cultural and natural value, are to be put forward for inclusion during the World Heritage Committee's 26th annual meeting in Budapest, June 24-29. There are nine countries with proposed sites – Afghanistan, Germany, Egypt, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland and Suriname – and the committee will also consider extending two sites already listed, in Hungary and Costa Rica. In addition, the committee will review, and possibly alter, the List of World Heritage in Danger, which currently marks out 31 sites as being under serious threat from activities such as mining or industrial pollution, looting, war, poorly organised tourism, and poaching. These include the Cambodian temple complex, Angkor Wat, as well as the cities of Jerusalem and Timbuktu. On June 28, the committee will adopt the Budapest Declaration on World Heritage, marking the 30th anniversary of the 1972 Convention on World Cultural and Natural Heritage. This agreement currently protects 721 sites of ‘outstanding universal value’ in 124 nations, including 554 cultural sites, 144 natural ones and 23 mixed ones. The convention encourages international co-operation in the preservation of shared cultural and natural heritage, with signatory nations promising to protect listed sites by providing a legal and regulatory framework. The World Heritage Committee, which comprises representatives of 21 counties, adds new sites to the list every six years. The sites are nominated by signatory nations, and then assessed by two advisory bodies – the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) for cultural sites, and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in the case of natural sites. Further information is available online at: www.unesco.org